gun-fucious
Member
Brady Campaign Statement: Shameful, Senator Snowe
6/20/2003
http://www.jointogether.org/gv/news/alerts/reader/0,2061,564242,00.html
Brady Campaign
united with the Million Mom March
1225 Eye Street, NW
Washington, DC 20005
CONTACT: Eric Howard, 202-898-0792
Snowe Sides with Reckless Gun Sellers Against Gun Violence Victims
Washington, D.C. - Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Me) has announced that she is co-sponsoring a bill, S.659, that would give unprecedented legal immunity to the gun industry and bar shooting victims from suing reckless gun dealers who supply the illegal gun market.
Snowe has thrown her support to limit the legal rights of gun crimne victims while purporting to be a supporter of crime victims' rights. She is a co-sponsor of a bill to guarantee constitutional rights to crime victims in criminal proceedings.
"Senator Snowe, quite frankly, should be ashamed of herself," said Dennis Henigan, Legal Director of the Brady Campaign united with the Million Mom March. "How can someone who purports to be an advocate for victims' rights support a bill to strip away the rights of those victimized by guns? Can the good Senator explain why there is a 'gun exception' to victims' rights?"
In a leading recent case filed by gun violence victims, the families of nine of the D.C.-area sniper victims have filed suit against a Maine gun-maker, Bushmaster Firearms, which manufactured the assault rifle used by the snipers. Bushmaster contributed $1,000 to Senator Snowe's last Senate campaign. Bushmaster's President Richard E. Dyke served as the Maine Finance Chair of President's Bush's campaign.
In the lawsuit against Bushmaster, the sniper victim families have charged Bushmaster with negligence in supplying assault weapons through a Tacoma, Washington gun dealer, Bull's Eye Shooter Supply, that operated its gun shop so recklessly that scores of guns, including the snipers' rifle, inexplicably "disappeared" from the store. The store did not report the snipers' rifle as missing or stolen until after it was confiscated from the sniper suspects, who could not legally have bought the gun. Bushmaster has told the press that, despite Bull's Eye's record of missing guns, it still considers the retailer a "good customer".
S. 659 also would bar victim suits in other cases against other irresponsible gun manufacturers and dealers:
* Old Prairie Trading Post and Bryco Arms Corp. (Chicago, Illinois) - The irresponsible conduct of these two gun sellers supplied white supremacist mass killer Benjamin Smith who, on the weekend of July 4, 1999, drove across Illinois and Indiana, randomly targeting African-Americans, Asian-Americans and Jews, leaving two dead and nine wounded in three days of shooting. Smith was prohibited from buying guns because of a domestic violence restraining order, and was only able to get guns through the negligence of a series of gun sellers - who would be immunized under this bill. After being turned down by a dealer because he failed the background check, Smith purchased guns from a trafficker, Donald Fiessinger, who was supplied by the Old Prairie Trading Post in Pekin, Illinois. Over a two-year period, Old Prairie sold 72 guns to Fiessinger, mostly Saturday Night Specials, yet the gun store never questioned whether or not these weapons were for his personal use. Smith purchased two handguns from Fiessinger - including a Bryco .380 - with no questions asked. He then commenced his shooting spree. A number of victims have sued the dealer, distributor and manufacturer in public nuisance and negligence; the case is now pending. Their rights would be extinguished by this bill.
* Kahr Arms (Worcester, Massachusetts) - Gun maker Kahr Arms hired criminals and drug addicts to work in its gun plant, and enabled them to stroll out the door with stolen, unmarked guns - a criminal's dream weapon. As a result, twenty six year old Danny Guzman was killed with a 9-mm gun that had been stolen from the Kahr Arms factory. The gun was one of several stolen by Kahr Arms employees, who had criminal records, before serial numbers had been stamped on them, rendering them virtually untraceable. The guns were then resold to criminals in exchange for money and drugs. The Guzman family would have no right to sue under this bill.
* Will's Jewelry and Loan (Charleston,West Virginia) - This pawnshop sold 12 handguns, in one cash transaction, to a straw purchaser after a criminal gun trafficker selected the guns in plain view of the clerk. The guns were then trafficked to criminals in New Jersey, and one was used to shoot and seriously wound two New Jersey police officers, David Lemongello and Ken McGuire. Even though Will's knew this was a suspicious transaction, Will's completed the sales, allowing the gun to end up in the hands of a known criminal less than six months later.
In her official biography, Senator Snowe touts the fact that she was the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate in Maine since Senator Margaret Chase Smith. It's a bad comparison.
In a prominent speech, Senator Smith once said "I think that it is high time that we remembered that we have sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution. I think that it is high time that we remembered; that the Constitution, as amended, speaks not only of the freedom of speech but also of trial by jury."
Senator Snowe today told victims of crime that reckless gun dealers shouldn't have to face a jury and be held accountable.
6/20/2003
http://www.jointogether.org/gv/news/alerts/reader/0,2061,564242,00.html
Brady Campaign
united with the Million Mom March
1225 Eye Street, NW
Washington, DC 20005
CONTACT: Eric Howard, 202-898-0792
Snowe Sides with Reckless Gun Sellers Against Gun Violence Victims
Washington, D.C. - Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Me) has announced that she is co-sponsoring a bill, S.659, that would give unprecedented legal immunity to the gun industry and bar shooting victims from suing reckless gun dealers who supply the illegal gun market.
Snowe has thrown her support to limit the legal rights of gun crimne victims while purporting to be a supporter of crime victims' rights. She is a co-sponsor of a bill to guarantee constitutional rights to crime victims in criminal proceedings.
"Senator Snowe, quite frankly, should be ashamed of herself," said Dennis Henigan, Legal Director of the Brady Campaign united with the Million Mom March. "How can someone who purports to be an advocate for victims' rights support a bill to strip away the rights of those victimized by guns? Can the good Senator explain why there is a 'gun exception' to victims' rights?"
In a leading recent case filed by gun violence victims, the families of nine of the D.C.-area sniper victims have filed suit against a Maine gun-maker, Bushmaster Firearms, which manufactured the assault rifle used by the snipers. Bushmaster contributed $1,000 to Senator Snowe's last Senate campaign. Bushmaster's President Richard E. Dyke served as the Maine Finance Chair of President's Bush's campaign.
In the lawsuit against Bushmaster, the sniper victim families have charged Bushmaster with negligence in supplying assault weapons through a Tacoma, Washington gun dealer, Bull's Eye Shooter Supply, that operated its gun shop so recklessly that scores of guns, including the snipers' rifle, inexplicably "disappeared" from the store. The store did not report the snipers' rifle as missing or stolen until after it was confiscated from the sniper suspects, who could not legally have bought the gun. Bushmaster has told the press that, despite Bull's Eye's record of missing guns, it still considers the retailer a "good customer".
S. 659 also would bar victim suits in other cases against other irresponsible gun manufacturers and dealers:
* Old Prairie Trading Post and Bryco Arms Corp. (Chicago, Illinois) - The irresponsible conduct of these two gun sellers supplied white supremacist mass killer Benjamin Smith who, on the weekend of July 4, 1999, drove across Illinois and Indiana, randomly targeting African-Americans, Asian-Americans and Jews, leaving two dead and nine wounded in three days of shooting. Smith was prohibited from buying guns because of a domestic violence restraining order, and was only able to get guns through the negligence of a series of gun sellers - who would be immunized under this bill. After being turned down by a dealer because he failed the background check, Smith purchased guns from a trafficker, Donald Fiessinger, who was supplied by the Old Prairie Trading Post in Pekin, Illinois. Over a two-year period, Old Prairie sold 72 guns to Fiessinger, mostly Saturday Night Specials, yet the gun store never questioned whether or not these weapons were for his personal use. Smith purchased two handguns from Fiessinger - including a Bryco .380 - with no questions asked. He then commenced his shooting spree. A number of victims have sued the dealer, distributor and manufacturer in public nuisance and negligence; the case is now pending. Their rights would be extinguished by this bill.
* Kahr Arms (Worcester, Massachusetts) - Gun maker Kahr Arms hired criminals and drug addicts to work in its gun plant, and enabled them to stroll out the door with stolen, unmarked guns - a criminal's dream weapon. As a result, twenty six year old Danny Guzman was killed with a 9-mm gun that had been stolen from the Kahr Arms factory. The gun was one of several stolen by Kahr Arms employees, who had criminal records, before serial numbers had been stamped on them, rendering them virtually untraceable. The guns were then resold to criminals in exchange for money and drugs. The Guzman family would have no right to sue under this bill.
* Will's Jewelry and Loan (Charleston,West Virginia) - This pawnshop sold 12 handguns, in one cash transaction, to a straw purchaser after a criminal gun trafficker selected the guns in plain view of the clerk. The guns were then trafficked to criminals in New Jersey, and one was used to shoot and seriously wound two New Jersey police officers, David Lemongello and Ken McGuire. Even though Will's knew this was a suspicious transaction, Will's completed the sales, allowing the gun to end up in the hands of a known criminal less than six months later.
In her official biography, Senator Snowe touts the fact that she was the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate in Maine since Senator Margaret Chase Smith. It's a bad comparison.
In a prominent speech, Senator Smith once said "I think that it is high time that we remembered that we have sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution. I think that it is high time that we remembered; that the Constitution, as amended, speaks not only of the freedom of speech but also of trial by jury."
Senator Snowe today told victims of crime that reckless gun dealers shouldn't have to face a jury and be held accountable.